1. Technical Field
The invention relates to voice recognition in a computer environment. More particularly, the invention relates to recording, compressing, and recognizing voice samples for non-repudiation purposes in a computer environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is currently a push among set-top manufacturers to produce set-tops that extend beyond the television, video, and Internet realm. Television set-top boxes that deliver cable television signals to viewers are commonplace, as well as pay-per-view services for premium viewers.
WebTV has attempted to make headway into consumer's living rooms for many years, offering consumers the ability to surf the Internet through their television sets. America Online has announced an AOLTV which will provide the viewer with both cable television services, Digital Video Recorder features, and Internet access. UltimateTV has recently released a set-top box that tries to provide the same services as AOLTV.
Every one of these approaches require that a keyboard and mouse are connected to the set-top box in order to interact with the user interfaces. Commands, information, and URLs are entered using the keyboard, while the mouse is used to traverse clickable menus and hyperlinks.
One of the problems with the use of keyboards and mice is that they are cumbersome and require that the user be computer literate and have some semblance of manual dexterity. Computer-phobic and certain handicapped consumers typically stray away from these type of set-top boxes for those reasons.
Another problem, particularly in the pay-per-view arena, is that consumers will order a movie and, after the movie is viewed, will later call the provider and complain that they never ordered the movie and demand a refund. The pay-per-view provider loses a large amount of revenue when customers falsely repudiate their purchases. The provider typically has no alternative but to refund the customer's charge because there is no proof that it was in fact the customer that had ordered the movie in the first place.
A method of creating a verifiable trail that clearly identifies of the person that initiated and confirmed the purchase is needed. The use of voice recognition and commands to navigate through user interface menus, pay-per-view menus, ecommerce purchases, and the Internet has not been used in the set-top arena. The ability to demonstrate to the customer that he did make the purchase by playing, to the customer, a recording of his voice as he made the actual purchase would solve the problem of customers falsely or mistakenly repudiating purchases. This would allow the providers to reliably retain their revenue stream.
It would be advantageous to provide a dual compression voice recordation non-repudiation system that allows providers to reliably identify users through voice recognition and to use the user's voice for non-repudiation purposes. It would further be advantageous to provide a dual compression voice recordation non-repudiation system that performs compression techniques on voice samples for both voice recognition and human communication.